Why I’m skeptical of some puzzling polls

  • protist@mander.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    8 months ago

    If your goal here is to not be surprised, I hate to tell you polls have margins of error that mean surprises are inevitable. Also, many polls are not infrequently found to be outside their SE when the actual results come in.

    • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      8 months ago

      Again, you can reduce the margin of error by plotting the trend line.

      It’s the same science for watching climate change:

      If one candidate is trending up towards election day and another is trending down you can tell which way it’s going to swing.